King Fisher Bend Ranch

It was time to pack our bags once again and head to Wyoming for a few days with the Etheringtons.  Lizzie suggested we go to the Jacobson's ranch and it was AWESOME!  All the kids were in heaven (especially Sadie) because next door to our cabin was a barn full of horses.  And the best part was, we could ride them whenever we wanted to.


The drive to Evanston was eventful to say the least.  It usually is when involving Cannon children.  The teasing, yelling and occasional hitting got so bad we threatened to leave them on the side of the road if they couldn't behave.  Of course this is illegal and wouldn't happen, but we were very, VERY tempted. 

Grandpa and Mimi were there to greet us.  Can you tell Grandpa hates getting his picture taken?  It's a shame because he's such a dashingly handsome bloke.  Can you also tell George was kind of a pill this trip?  There wasn't a whole lot that could make him happy and his high pitched screams made him an enemy to all.  I blame his behavior on getting 6 new teeth.  Poor baby!

The horses might have been upstaged by a bunch of sweet little baby kittens that resided on the front porch the whole time we were there.  We immediately fell in love with them and spent a great deal of time just snuggling, petting and letting them sleep on our laps.
 
Sadie had a favorite kitty she named Biscuit.  There was rarely a time she wasn't sitting in that rocking chair with Biscuit on her lap.  She absolutely loved him and when she had to say goodbye at the end of the week it made us both cry.  Sniff sniff. 

She was very protective of Biscuit and made sure none of the other cousins hurt him.  I don't know how she could tell him from the other ragamuffin kittens, but she did, and Biscuit seemed to love her every bit as much as she loved him.  It was sweet to see her bond with an animal.  We always knew she loved horses but there's no way in heck we'd ever buy one for her.  I've been trying to get Chase on board for a kitten ever since we got married and perhaps seeing his only daughter's teary eyes after saying goodbye to Biscuit will finally break his iron will against getting one. 


Sadie and Jack were in the barn quite a bit talking to the horses.  Sadie loved the horse named Trouble, more for his name than anything else. 


The grandkids had to take turns riding the horses.  Sadie and Ruby wanted to ride together.  They pretty much wanted to do everything together!  I love their little excited expressions as they patiently waited their turn.

Sadie was constantly cracking everyone up with her horse conversations.  It doesn't take much to make Ruby laugh, so Sadie played "court jester" the whole time thinking she was the funniest person on the planet.  Ruby has a fantastic laugh!  I'm glad we were able to hear so much giggling this trip.  What cute little friends.  They love each other!

George was too little to ride the horses but Jack wasn't and he was excited too!!  He didn't have a hard time waiting his turn because he was running all over the place blowing on dandelions, climbing fences and collecting rocks.  What a guy!!  He finally got his turn and loved it!!  He got to ride Doc. 


I got to ride Doc too.  Turns out he's 28 years old and could keel over at any moment.  This information made me feel just peachy as I was riding him into the countryside going up and down steep terrain and through rivers.  He was a lazy little beast and I felt too guilty kicking him in the belly, being as old as he was, so we had a lot of "alone time" eating grass while the others ran ahead.  I had a fun time on the trail with Em and Lizzie.  Sisters are such a comical relief.  I need to get one for  Sadie.  I love having so many hilarious people in my life.  I'm sure our tour guide was thinking we were totally ridiculous in our colored skinny jeans and running shoes.  We could never pass for "country folk." 

 

The ranch also had a little lake nearby to swim in.  Everyone loved it!!

There was a lot of fun to be had and lots of naps too. 

The 4th of July in Evanston was an experience we'll never forget.  This is the city a lot of Utahns will drive to in order to buy illegal fireworks and, because they've got an amazing inventory, we were presented with quite a show!

The main fireworks were almost anti-climatic after all the "pre-show" fireworks all our neighbors were shooting off.  I couldn't believe how much chaos was around us.  EVERYONE was having their own firework show worthy of spectators and praise for sure!  We thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this small town's crazy "red neck" ways.  Jack enjoyed the fireworks, just not the noise.  He kept those hands clasped over his ears the ENTIRE time.  George wasn't worried one bit by the noise, thank goodness, because it was everywhere and VERY loud!

We had such an amazing time with everyone.  The only draw back was getting our kids to eat all the "vegan" meals that were prepared by different aunts and uncles.  Everyone in my family has switched to eating a "plant based" diet.  This is awesome and I'm happy for them, but my kids were not going to eat a romaine lettuce leaf adorned with cashew cheese, roasted pecans, avocado and mangoes.  I was going to eat it because it was delicious but the kiddos weren't having it.  I was pretty amazed that their cousins would at least try some of these foods. Other than the extreme gas and intestinal problems that surfaced after eating such meals, I was encouraged to eliminate more meat from our diets at home which wasn't going to be too difficult seeing we really aren't big meat eaters.  We just have to have some Texas BBQ every once in a while.  I'm sure if my siblings tried the Salt Lick, they'd need some Texas BBQ periodically as well.  I will say, when it was my turn to cook, I made Erin's homemade pasta sauce with some delicious rotini and everyone, including the kids, wolfed it down.  I even used olive oil instead of butter to make it vegan.  So there! 

Thanks to Mimi and Grandpa for making it all possible!!  We and all your 11 grandchildren thank you for a wonderful time in the wild wild West! 

 

On our drive back to Utah we had to stop by Lily Lake in the high Uintahs where my dad would take us when we were little to camp and look for frogs.  The frogs must have migrated somewhere else because we didn't see a single one, but the lake was every bit as beautiful.  I love all those lily pads!

The flies weren't so wonderful.  I love these pictures of Sadie trying to "keep it together" for the picture above and finally flipping out over the flies buzzing in her face in the picture below.  Tolerance is not one of her strong suits but we love her anyway.